Incubators in clinical analyzers comprise, typically, a rotor having stations around the periphery for holding slide test elements, as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,963,333, and a cover over the rotor. The cover is removable for cleaning the rotor and/or for removing slide jams on the rare occasion that they occur.
Various mechanisms have been provided for making such cover removable. In those instances in which the cover is a light-weight piece of plastic, the problem and solution are trivial--a screw can be removed from the center axis and the cover lifted off. Or, the cover is unsnapped and lifted like a clam shell along a horizontal pivot. However, in some instances those trivial mechanisms are not acceptable. For example, if it is essential that the cover be only minimally disturbed, and/or that it not be actually physically removed from the incubation site, these are insufficient. Particularly those are insufficient if the cover for the incubator is itself part of a second incubator disposed above the incubator being covered. In such a case, the cover that is also an incubator cannot be tipped out of the horizontal plane, nor can it be disconnected from the site due to electrical connections and the like. Furthermore, by being itself an incubator or part of an incubator, the cover now has substantial weight which makes lifting it away or back in place a more problematic exercise, particularly since the slide elements within the cover incubator will not tolerate jarring as would occur if the cover should inadvertently fall onto the lower incubator.
Hence, prior to this invention there has been a need for a mechanism that will raise and lower an incubator cover that is sensitive to disturbance and/or tipping, in a convenient and safe manner, particularly when the cover is itself part of another incubator.